“During the first 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, no one thought of setting up a creche to celebrate Christmas. The pre-eminent Christian holiday was Easter, not Christmas.” FirstsChristianJesusCenturyBirthSettingSettingsCelebrateHolidayEasterBethlehemJesus Birth Author:Nancy Pearcey
“Above all, you ask if the God of Christians forgives those who do not believe and who do not seek faith. Given the premise, and this is fundamental, that the mercy of God is limitless for those who turn to him with a sincere and contrite heart, the issue for the unbeliever lies in obeying his or her conscience.” IfsFirstsBelieveHeartChristianLyingTurnsAsksLimitsConscienceMercyFundamentalsForgivingAsk MeSincereBelieve In GodPremisesObeyingMercy Of God Author:Pope Francis
“In the first decade of my life, I came to know and love God, as I was raised in a Christian home and community.” KnowsFirstsHomeChristianCommunityAnd LoveRaisedDecadesGod LoveChristian Home Author:Chely Wright
“Don't ever come to church without coming as though it were the first time, as though it could be the best time, and as though it could be the last time.” FirstsChristianLastsChurchFirst TimeChristian InspirationalBeing The BestLast TimeBest Times Author:Vance Havner
“Revival precedes evangelism. The church must first repent. This is the blind spot in our eye today.” FirstsEyeTodayChristianChurchBlindChristian InspirationalSpotsRepentRevivalEvangelismBlind Spots Author:Vance Havner
“I have often been reminded of the wild duck that came down on migration into a barnyard and liked it so well that he stayed there. In the fall his erstwhile companions passed overhead and his first impulse was to rise and join them, but he had fed too well and could rise no higher than the eaves of the barn. The day came when his old fellow travelers could pass overhead without his even hearing their call. I have seen men and women who once mounted up with wings like eagles but are now content to live in the barnyard of this world.” MenWorldFirstsWellsChristianFallThis WorldHigherMen And WomenFellowsWingsHearingChristian InspirationalImpulseFedsCompanionDucksTravelerEaglesMigrationOverheadBarnsFellow Travelers Author:Vance Havner
“Let us be satisfied simply with what sustains our present life, not with what pampers it. Let us pray to God for this, as we have been taught, so that we may keep our souls unenslaved and absolutely free from domination by any of the visible things loved for the sake of the body. Let us show that we eat for the sake of living, and not be guilty of living for the sake of eating. The first is a sign of intelligence, the second proof of its absence.” FirstsMayHas BeensSoulShowsBodyChristianTaughtPrayingEatingSakeProofAbsenceSatisfiedGuiltyVisibleOrthodoxDominationPraying To GodPresent Life Author:Maximus the Confessor
“... for our sake loosing within Himself the bonds of bodily birth, He granted us through spiritual birth, according to our own volition, power to become children of God instead of children of flesh and blood if we have faith in His Name (cf. Jn. 1:12-13). For the Savior the sequence was, first of all, incarnation and bodily birth for my sake; and so thereupon the birth in the Spirit through baptism, originally spurned by Adam, for the sake of my salvation and restoration by grace, or, to describe it even more vividly, my very remaking.” IfsFirstsChildrenChristianSpiritualSpiritNamesGraceBloodBirthSalvationSakeFleshGrantedOrthodoxSaviorHave FaithAdamSequenceRestorationIncarnationOrthodox ChristianChild Of GodBaptismCfsFlesh And BloodVolition Author:Maximus the Confessor
“He who devoutly strives to attain wisdom and is on his guard against the invisible powers, should pray that both natural discrimination - whose light is but limited - and the illuminating grace of the Spirit abide in him. The first by means of practice trains the flesh in virtue, the second illuminates the intellect so that it chooses above all else companionship with wisdom; and through wisdom it destroys the strongholds of evil and pulls down 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (II Cor. 10:5).” ShouldFirstsMeanSelfLightChristianSpiritEvilNaturalPracticeVirtueGraceSelf EsteemPrayingTrainStriveIntellectFleshInvisibleDiscriminationEsteemOrthodoxCompanionshipStrifeOrthodox ChristianIlluminatingKnowledge Of GodStrongholds Author:Maximus the Confessor
“I had the luck at 18 to become assistant to Christian Dior, and to succeed him at 21 and to meet with success from my first collection in 1958. That will be 44 years in a few days. Above all it was Christian Dior who was my master and who was the first to reveal the secrets and mysteries of haute couture.” YearsFirstsChristianSecretChristianityMysteryMastersSucceedLuckCollectionsAssistantsCoutureDiorHaute Couture Author:Christian Dior
“What healthy religion is saying is that the real life is both now and later. You have to taste the Real first of all now. The constant pattern, however, is that most Christians either move both backwards (religion as nostalgia) or into the distant future (religion as carrot on the stick) and consistently avoid where everything really happens and mattersthe present moment.” FirstsRealMatterMomentsHappensChristianMovingLife IsFaithHealthyTasteConstantSticksPatternsNostalgiaReal LifePresent MomentConsistentlyBackwardsCarrotsNow And Later Author:Richard Rohr
“As a result of changes which, over the last century, have modified our empirically based pictures of the world and hence the moral value of many of its elements, the "human religious ideal" inclines to stress certain tendencies and to express itself in terms which seem, at first sight, no longer to coincide with the "christian religious ideal".” WorldFirstsHumansSeemsChristianLastsCertainValuesTermReligiousResultsMoralCenturyElementsIdealsSightStressTendenciesMoral ValuesIncline Book:The Divine Milieu Source: The Divine Milieu